Rip Can Not Find Dame Van Winkle

In an English interpretation, one could see Rip Van Winkle as the mother country or England. Rip is “a kind neighbor, and an obedient hen-pecked husband .” (430) To an English citizen reading this story, it could easily represent the English monarchy. For years before the

Robert Desmarais is no ordinary caretaker, living as he does in a ghost town 8200 feet above sea level. He is also an historian, story teller, geologist, chemist and licensed blaster. He speaks of the people who inhabited this place as if he’d known them all personally, which due to the eerie nature of this town, he might well have. Robert is in the process of putting together a book on the history of the town. Hopefully it will be available before long, as just the few stories he told us made me want to learn more.

He ‘s a lazy and obedient hen-pecked husband. “In a word, Rip was ready to attend to anybody’s business but his own; but as to doing family duty, keeping his farm in order, he found it impossible.” His idleness to his responsibility can be seen as American’s unwillingness to be a servant of England. “There is phlegm and drowsy tranquility” around the town before the revolution war. However, after Rip awakes from his sleep for twenty years, everything in the town has changed. “There was a busy, bustling, disputatious tone about it, instead of the accustomed phlegm and drowsy tranquility.” Also, the sign outside the tavern where he spent much of his time has changed from King George to General Washington. After seeing all of these changes, at first Rip doubts his own identity, especially when he sees his son who is” a precise counterpart of himself.” However, before long, “he resumes his old walks and habits,” because he doesn’t compelled to change himself into a post Revolutionary American. Since it never happens as an event in his life, it makes no drastic change in Rip’s life. Because he has no indent to fit in the new society to be who he has to be at the new age, he tries to retreat or stay in the past which is what the Americans need to lead their cultural life.

Next, the characters enter the scene of mythology. In order for mythology to come across as supernatural, the characters must lend themselves to mystery. In Rip Van Winkle, not only do other intriguing characters appear, but Rip himself tends towards strange behaviors. After all, Rip did sleep for twenty years without waking. That in its self begins to reveal the underlying interest of the story. Perhaps the most strange and exaggerated characters would prove to be the bowler in the forest. In the text it says, “He was still more surprised at the singularity of the stranger’s appearance.” It goes on to

He enjoys helping his neighbors, sitting under a tree, and talking to his friends at the inn, no matter what anybody else says. He enjoys his quiet existence, even when his home life brings him down. The supernatural plays a large part in Rip’s story as well. In the Katskill mountains, Rip falls asleep for twenty years and wakes up after the American Revolution. In a way, this is exactly what Rip wanted.

Specifically, it reflects on his uncertainty and acceptance of the change he experiences by going in and out of the mountain. Rip may also be a metaphor for the creation and persistence of America. As a whole, the story and passage act as a way to reconcile a new identity with new surroundings, which many people in 19th century America were experiencing at the time. Splitting from the global powerhouse of England in the 18th century meant not a lot was certain for America in its early years. This anxiety is represented well by Rip’s identity crisis when he returns unknowingly after his twenty-year disappearance; many new immigrants to America may have felt the same way.

Irving describes the sights Rip is seeing for the first time, “the very village was altered; it was larger and more populous” not only that but, “he found his beard had grown a foot long” (6). When Rip arrives to the town the only thing he is worried about is finding his wife and receiving the fire he knows his wife will spit at him. Rip arrives in the town shocked when he finds the image of King George III replaced by George Washington. As Rip continues through the town he becomes confused and unable to understand that there is an election currently going on. When he is questioned by townspeople as to “which side he voted?” (7). Rip says, “ ‘I am a poor quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the king, God bless him!” (7). Rip is hearing the townspeople talk so freely of elections and politics, it’s all very new, and it represents the freedom of speech these citizens now have and the responsibility of the new democracy. A main struggle of the story was one of identity, especially at this time in history. The citizens of America, twenty years after Rip Van Winkle finally awoke, found their identity. Rip, who was having difficulty finding himself throughout the story, finally finds his identity when his own identity after he is told about his wife’s passing and being

In the story, Rip Van Winkle, Rip is seen by many of his peers as a person they can always go to for help, he is incredibly dependable. The story states, “the women of the village ,too used to employ him to run their errands, and to do such little odd jobs as their less obliging husbands would not do for them.”(10). Meaning Rip is always there to give a helping hand, even when others do not want to. Robin too is persistent, he spends hours upon hours looking for Major Molineux, until he is successful. In the story, Robin states, “I pray you tell me the whereabouts of is the dwelling of my kinsman, Major Molineux.”(2). Which shows that even from the beginning, Robin will do anything to find him. Another similaritiy the two share are the many setbacks they go through to acheive their goals. For example, Rips goal was to simply enjoy some time away from Dame Van Winkle, his horrendous wife, but falls asleep in the mountains, and wakes up in distress and shock due to his changed town. However Rip does gain a sense of peace by telling his story to whoever will listen, and the almost comforting death of Dame. Robin’s goal in My Kinsman, Major Molineux, is simply to find the location of his relative Major Molineux. Robin goes through a great deal of trouble, because he is seen as an outsider in this foreign town. Robin too reaches his goal, and finally finds Major Molineux, that is, after he is sleep

The story “Rip Van Winkle” is about a man that is loved and cared for in his town, known as Rip. He would help everyone around the town, but when it would come to doing work on his farm he wouldn’t. It was because he believed that everything he did was wrong and useful. The only person that understood Rip was his dog, Wolf, he would take his dog everywhere he would go. On the other hand, there was this person that Rip would not get along with and this person was his wife Dame Van Winkle. Dame would always be arguing and nagging to Rip. As Washington mention in “Rip Van Winkle”, “Morning, noon and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence” (32). Rip Van Winkle

Rip Van Winkle is described as a man who “was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound” (46). He was a stubborn man

One thing we know about Rip Van Winkle is that this story is inspirited in a story belonging to a Dutch story, taking from the Dutch settlers of American colonies.

Washington Irving was credited with introducing the short story as a new genre in American literature, as William Hedges observes, yet I find it surprising that this story could have been taught as utterly original. As Emerson and the Transcendentalists were able to synthesize the mystical aspects of Puritan thought with the rational and secular facets of Enlightenment thinking, so Irving weaves a new tapestry out of many existing threads of American experience. “Rip Van Winkle” is a mature version of Franklin’s short fictional sketches, such as “The Speech of Polly Baker,” and if one were to read isolated passages from Irving and Franklin aloud, it could be difficult to identify the source, as both develop a muted sarcasm and rely heavily

The turning point of the story occurs when Rip walks deep into the woods and encounters a mysterious band of oddly dressed strangers with foreign customs. These strangers represent the tribes of Indians who dwelled in villages outside the colonial settlements. In the short conscious time Rip spends with them, he takes the time to notice a great deal about how their small town works. Throughout their entire party, the group remained completely silent, although they were definitely happy. This portrays the Indians apprehension to interact with the settlers. Rip also takes note of a leader of the group. This leader wears a large, outlandish headpiece, and is shown to be a respected elder of the group. The entire scene where Rip waits on them out of fear, parodies the capturing and enslavement of the settlers by the Indians. This part of the story is a bit vague to the reader. The little men

Rip Van Winkle desires to leave his nagging wife, driving him into the woods revealing a gorgeous, woodland landscape and a

When Rip was driven out of home by the frequent nagging and the tart tempers of Dame Van Winkle, he would frequent the village inn that had a portrait of King George III. When Rip went hunting in the Catskill Mountains, he never returns until twenty years later. However, when he ascends from the mountains he assumes he has slept for one night.